Graduate Enrollment

Women

In 1999, 41 percent of the graduate students in S&E fields were women, up from 34 percent in 1990. The number of women enrolled in S&E graduate programs also increased over this time periodrising from 133,737 in 1990 to 168,468 in 1999. (See figure 4-1 and appendix table 4-2.) From 1990 to 1999, the number of female graduate students increased in all broad S&E fields, except mathematics, and the percentage of graduate students who are women increased both in science and engineering as a whole and in each broad S&E field. (See figure 4-2.) The number of men enrolled in graduate S&E programs declined during the same time perioddropping from 263,391 in 1990 to 242,840 in 1999. (See appendix table 4-3.)

The percentage of first-time S&E graduate students who are women is also rising. In 1999, 41 percent of full-time first-time S&E graduate students were female, compared to 35 percent in 1990. (See appendix table 4-4.) As much of this increase can be attributed to a decline in the number of men among first-time students as to an increase in the number of women. Male full-time first-time S&E graduate student enrollment dropped 11 percent between 1990 and 1999 (from 49,502 to 44,216). Concurrently, the number of women increased 15 percentfrom 27,068 to 31,031.

Minorities

Across all disciplines, the numbers of Asian and American Indian graduate students increased 1 percent, and the numbers of black and Hispanic graduate students increased 3 percent, between 1998 and 1999.[3] At the same time, the number of white graduate students decreased 2 percent (Syverson 2001).

The numbers of minority graduate students in S&E have increased since 1990. (See figure 4-3.) The number of black S&E graduate students rose from 12,774 in 1990 to 20,341 in 1999, of Hispanics from 10,159 to 16,514, of American Indians from 1,054 to 1,557, and of Asians from 17,155 to 27,562. (See appendix table 4-6.) In contrast, the number of white S&E graduate students dropped over that time periodfrom 238,465 in 1990 to 216,865 in 1999. As noted in chapter 2, the white college-age population (18- to 24-year-olds) declined from 1990 through 1997.

During the 1990s, the percentage of minority graduate students increased in science and engineering as a whole as well as in each broad S&E field. Asian students increased their representation among all U.S. citizen and permanent resident S&E graduate students from 6 percent in 1990 to 9 percent in 1999, blacks from 4 to 7 percent, Hispanics from 3 to 5 percent, and American Indians from 0.4 to 0.5 percent. Concurrently, the percentage of white graduate students declined from 81 to 72 percent. (See appendix table 4-6.)

Data on the sex of S&E graduate students by race/ethnicity are available only as far back as 1994. For the 5 years for which data are available, the numbers of female S&E graduate students in each racial/ethnic groupexcept whiteincreased, as did the numbers of black, Hispanic, and American Indian men. The numbers of white and Asian men in graduate S&E study dropped from 1994 to 1999. (See appendix tables 4-8 and 4-9.)[4]

Students with disabilities

About 3 percent of graduate students studying in all fields reported a disability in 1996. (See appendix table 4-12.) Graduate students with disabilities are older, on average, than those without disabilities. They are more likely than those without disabilities to be female and more likely than those without disabilities to be black or Hispanic. See appendix A for information on all data sources.[5]

Top Institutions Enrolling Female Graduate Students in S&E

The top institutions enrolling female graduate students in S&E are, for the most part, large public research institutionsas are the top institutions enrolling their male counterparts. The University of Minnesota, University of Colorado, and University of California--Berkeley were the top institutions enrolling female S&E graduate students in 1999. (See appendix table 4-5.)[*] Stanford University, the University of Michigan, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were the top institutions enrolling male S&E graduate students.

[*] The top institutions are ranked by number of women rather than percentage of women. Ranking by percentage results in high rankings for institutions with a single small S&E department, all or most of whose graduate students are women. It results in low rankings for large institutions with many S&E departments, half or more of whose graduate students are women. This distinction is important: only 2 of the top 20 schools ranked in terms of number of female students are included in the top 20 institutions ranked by percentage of female students.

Top Institutions Enrolling Minority
Graduate Students in S&E

The top institutions enrolling minority graduate students in S&E reflect the regional demographics of minority populations. More than half (55 percent) of the nation's blacks lived in the South in 1999; 44 percent of Hispanics and 53 percent of Asians lived in the West. The country's American Indian population was similarly concentrated in the West, with 50 percent living in six statesOklahoma, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Alaska, and Washington.

Of the top 20 institutions with the largest numbers of black graduate students, seven are historically black colleges and universities and most are located in the South. Seventeen of the top 20 institutions enrolling Hispanic S&E graduate students are in California, Puerto Rico, Texas, and Floridaall places with high concentrations of Hispanics in their population. Nine of the top 20 academic institutions enrolling Asian S&E graduate students are in California. Eleven of the top 20 institutions enrolling American Indians as graduate students are in California, Arizona, and Oklahoma. (See appendix table 4-7.)

Graduate Education at Minority-Serving Institutions

Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) account for a disproportionate share of black S&E graduate students. HBCUs, although only 4 percent of all academic institutions enrolling S&E graduate students, account for 16 percent of all black graduate students in these fields. (See appendix table 4-10.) These institutions accounted for higher percentages of black enrollment in some fields, notably in the agricultural sciences (56 percent of all black graduate students in this field), biological sciences (25 percent), and mathematics (22 percent), in 1999.

Unlike HBCUs, the institutions classified as Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) change from year to year. Among the criteria for inclusion as an HSI, as per the Higher Education Act of 1965 as amended and 20 U.S.C. 1059c, are that the institution have at least 25 percent Hispanic full-time undergraduate enrollment and that at least 50 percent of its Hispanic students be low income. Different institutions fulfill these qualifications in any given year, and an institution that qualified in one year may or may not in a subsequent year. In 1999, 203 institutions met the HSI criteria. These accounted for 6 percent of all academic institutions enrolling S&E graduate students, 29 percent of all Hispanic graduate students in S&E fields, and 41 percent of all Hispanics enrolled in the agricultural sciences. (See appendix table 4-11.) Of these institutions, the University of Puerto RicoRio Piedras enrolled the largest number of Hispanic graduate students in S&E in 1999. Florida International and California StateLos Angeles enrolled the largest numbers of Hispanic graduate students in S&E in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. (See appendix table 4-7.)

Tribal colleges offer primarily two-year certificates or degrees. Only two offer graduate programs; neither had graduate students in S&E in 1999.

Minority Enrollment in Texas and
California

Results are mixed regarding the effects of changes in legislation or policy on graduate enrollment. In Texas and California, respectively, legislationi.e., Hopwood v. Texas 78 F.3d 932 (5th Cir. 1996), cert. denied, 116 S. Ct. 2581 (1996)and state policyi.e., the Regents of the University of California Policy Ensuring Equal Treatment Admissions (SP-1), approved July 20, 1995disallowing preferences based on race/ethnicity went into effect in 1997. In Texas, black graduate enrollment in science and engineering was more or less the same in 1999 as it was before the legislation went into effect; Hispanic enrollment decreased 14 percentthe same as white enrollment. In California, Hispanic graduate enrollment in 1999 was higher than in 1996; concurrently, white enrollment dropped 5 percent, and black enrollment dropped 14 percent. (See "Trends in Enrollment of Minorities in California and Texas," NSF/SRS 2000b.)

Footnotes

[5] The source of most of the data in this chapter-the National Science Foundation's Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering, a survey of U.S. academic institutions with graduate S&E departmentsdoes not collect data on students with disabilities. As noted in previous chapters, data on such individuals do not tend to be included in comprehensive institutional records; and, if they are, such information is likely to be kept confidential and used as a means of providing special services to students. The source of the data reported here is the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, a sample survey done by the National Center for Education Statistics of individuals in postsecondary educational institutions. The survey defines students with disabilities as those who reported having one or more of the following conditions: a specific learning disability, a visual handicap, hard of hearing, deafness, a speech disability, an orthopedic handicap, or a health impairment.